When I was about seven years old, there was a big event on our block. Word got around that Mrs. Cantinelli, over at 58 Parsonage, was going to perm Mr. Cantinelli’s hair…in the sink! None of us had ever really heard of a home perm before. The whole block was a buzz until finally, the Cantinelli’s olderst daughter, Theresa Marie, yelled from the porch that we should all come over to see. All the residents of the block gathered in their kitchen and we held our breath as Mrs. Cantinelli’s removed the towel from his head. When she did, what we saw pretty much looked exactly like Picture number 24 above. Mr. Cantinelli left Mrs. Cantinelli shortly after that and moved in with his best friend Bruno. I always wondered if that perm, and the local celebrity it brought him, was to blame for the split.

Moral: Don’t give your husband a home perm or he may end up blowing Bruno.